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March 15, 2011

Portland Track Festival 2011

Filed under: Running News — Tags: Carmen Troncoso, Christine Olen, Lisa Valle, Sabra Harvey, Tania Fischer, Trina Painter — Joanna Harper @ 10:25 am

The adult section of this year’s Portland Track Festival (PTF) will be held on June 11^th at the Lewis and Clark College facility. Once again I will be coordinating the 3000 meter race for master’s women. If the race is anything like last year’s one, it would be worth considering for any serious old lady trackster.

In 2007 I returned to track racing after a 20 year absence and I found that I had really missed it. I have been fortunate enough to corral a few USATF track medals since then, but the best thing I’ve done on the track has nothing to do with my running capabilities.

I was a spectator at the 2008 version of the PTF and I enjoyed the meet for most part. But I couldn’t help but notice that there was an excellent race for master’s men but no love for the aging women. A few months after the meet, I asked meet director Craig Rice about it. Craig said that he’d love to put on a master’s women’s race, but he needed someone to champion it. He then gave me a meaningful look. After a short deliberation I said I’d do it.

The first order of business was to find women who’d agree to race the thing. Dave Clingan, the director of the master’s men’s mile told me that if I could get one runner, others would follow. Somehow I managed to convince Carmen Troncoso to travel from Texas to Portland for the race. And sure enough the field filled out once she had signed on.

Trina Painter won the race and broke 10 minutes. Christine Olen kicked strongly for second place, and Carmen bettered the American Record for 50-54 women. But that was just the beginning. We agreed to put the race on again in 2010.

As the following spring unfolded it became clear that the sophomore edition of the race would be special indeed. Trina and Carmen returned and were joined by an all star cast of women including Sabra Harvey, Lisa Valle, Tania Fischer, Karen Steen and Kirsten Leetch. And perhaps the most amazing thing was that I managed to get Russian legend Tatyana Pozdnyakova to race even though she was no longer running seriously.

Trina again won the race, Lisa outkicked Kirsten for second and all three of them finished under 10 minutes. Both Carmen and Sabra set new American records with phenomenal efforts. Eight women broke the coveted 90 percent age group mark. And I had a wonderful weekend playing host to all these incredible athletes and nice people. One of my coworkers wondered how on earth I had managed to get all of these women to travel to Portland for this race. I just smiled and said “well I asked them”.

The truth is that I’ve been fortunate. Portland is of course a great town for running and June weather is usually close to perfect for middle distance racing here. The meet is well organized and there are few opportunities for old ladies to run for cash. 3000 meters is not the most common race distance and this meet presents a chance to run for records.

And in 2011, the timing of the race makes it a perfect tune up prior to the Worlds in Sacramento.

Carmen, Kirsten and Tania have all indicated that they will be back this year and several more women have expressed interest. I am hoping that this year’s version of the race will be the best yet. Any woman with a time under 13 minutes can run the race and I will make exceptions for older women who might be looking at a notable age group time.

There is a modest amount of prize money with $200 for first place $100 for second, $50 for third and $100 for the top age graded performance.

There are also some excellent open races at the meet every year. This week I can’t help but remember the 2009 meet when we put on 10,000 meter races for both men and women. The late Sally Meyerhoff won the women’s race with a strong last mile. While it seems hard to believe that someone so young and so healthy could now be gone, her death only reinforces my desire to keep on doing the sport I love for as long as I can.

I would like to hear from any woman who might be interested in running the 3000 meters in 2011. You may feel free to contact me at jmharps57 and I am on gmail and that is a dot com.

2010 results

Athlete Club time Age grade

  1 Painter, Trina           McMillan Elite     9:49.48       91.7%

  2 Valle, Lisa              SoCal Track        9:56.69       91.6%

  3 Leetch, Kirsten          See Jane Run       9:59.25       91.2%

  4 Troncoso, Carmen         Rogue Running      10:06.60      98.3%

  5 Fischer, Tania           See Jane Run       10:33.01      86.3%

  6 Taylor, Kelle            See Jane Run       11:09.84      83.6%

  7 Harvey, Sabra            Unattached         11:11.49      101.9%

  8 Laurie, Porter           Club Northwest     11:18.19      84.6%

  9 Pozdnyakova, Tatyana     Unattached         11:19.97      92.5%

 10 Harper, Joanna           Team Red Lizard    12:00.67      84.9%

 11 Groesz, Jeanette         Unattached         12:12.82      92.1%

 12 Armstrong, Beth          Team Red Lizard    12:37.22      71.4%

 13 Puterbaugh, Candy        Unattached         12:44.20      92.3%

 14 Vesey, Robin             Unattached         12:54.92      82.3%

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July 26, 2010

More Records Fall in Fast 1500′s

Filed under: Running News — Tags: Carmen Ayala-Troncoso, Christine Olen, Jaymee Marty, Kirsten Schneider, Lisa Valle, Mary Harada, Midori Sperandeo, Rhonda Bergstrom, Sabra Harvey — Carmel Papworth-Barnum @ 12:32 pm

In the final day of the Masters T&F Champs in Sacramento, there was plenty of exciting action in the 1500′s. Mary Harada delivered another impressive performance setting her second W75 American Record for the meet. Mary’s time of 7:31.56 easily beat the previous W75 1500m record of 7:42.30 (Bess James in 1985).

Mary’s one smart woman, scratching from the 800m on Saturday, which was the hottest day (around 100), and saving her energy for her Sunday record show down.

In W60 Sabra Harvey shattered the World Record for 1500 with an incredible run of 5:12.27. Sabra told USATF after her race, “It was in my head to do it, I knew I could, it was just a matter of whether I could hold it”.

Again the W50 age group had the largest number of women on the start line. Fourteen women raced the 1500m with Carmen Ayala-Troncoso, setting a smoking pace from the start to win in 4:55.11. Wendy Pratt was second in 5:08.18 and Sarah Tabbutt third in 5:13.30.

In the W40 1500m six women were together at the bell lap. In the final 300 Lisa Valle kicked away to win in 4:44.80 from Rhonda Bergstrom (4:47.29), Midori Sperandeo (4:47.64), Christine Olen (4:48.73), Jaymee Marty (4:54.83), and Kirsten Schneider (4:55.67).

Thanks for a great race women, the crowd in the back straight loved it!

All the results are posted here.

Some of W40 1500 gals who put a great show. L to R: Midori Sperandeo, Lisa Valle (winner) & Jaymee Marty.

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July 24, 2010

Suzi is Breaking Records

Filed under: Running News — Tags: Audrey Lary, Carmen Ayala-Troncoso, Charmaine Roberts, Cheryl Bellaire, Christine Olen, Karen Steen, Lisa Valle, Sabra Harvey, Suzi MacLeod — Carmel Papworth-Barnum @ 10:32 pm

Suzi MacLeod (W75) sizzled on the track, matching Sacramento’s heat with her own hot performances. On Friday Suzi broke the World Record in the W75 400m with her time of 1:25.40. Today she set an American Record in the 800m with 3:25.73. Suzi ran a solo effort with W70 winner Jeanne Daprano out in front in the same race. Jeanne won in 3:09.35.

Suzi’s 400m World Record was even more impressive when you learn that she has only run this race four times. Suzi’s coach told her that if she wanted to improve her 800m times she needed to add the 400m to her racing repertoire. Suzie told me, “I hate the 400m but it was perfectly set up for me as I had Audrey Lary on my outside”. Audrey was second in 1:28.74 and is the former American record holder in the event.

In other 800m results Sabra Harvey (W61) was just shy of the W60 World Record with her 2:35.11. In W55 Kathy Martin and Coreen Steinbach had a good battle with Kathy winning in 2:40.23 to Coreen’s 2:43.94. Early in the day Kathy had won the 10,000 in 40:07.59.

Many of us were looking forward to the W50 race between the distance diva Carmen Ayala-Troncoso and the fast finishing Cheryl Bellaire. Cheryl had won the steeple and 400m the previous day. Carmen set the early pace and made sure she was well clear of Cheryl’s kick. Carmen won in 2:29.38 to Cheryl’s 2:36.30.

After her World Record in the 2K steeple on Friday, Lisa Valle wasn’t a definite to race the 800m. But her training and ability to recover shone through when she flew in the W40 800m to win in 2:17.87. Charmaine Roberts showed her 400m form to out kick Christine Olen, 2:21.65 to 2:22.23. Christine told me that her time was an old woman (W40) personal record, way to go Christine.

In W45 Club Northwest teammates finished one, two. Karen Steen won in 2:26.98 with Sarah Smith second in 2:29.59 and Sinead Thornton third with her 2:31.98.

Friends Joanna Harper (L) and Suzi Macleod (R)

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April 8, 2010

Portland Track Festival

Filed under: Running News — Tags: Carmen Troncoso, Christine Olen, Portland Track Festival, Trina Painter — Joanna Harper @ 9:24 pm

Two years ago I was a spectator at a track meet in Portland called the Portland Track Festival. The meet is an intriguing mix of youth, open and master’s races with an emphasis on middle distance and distance races. There are a few feature races of the meet including Dave Clingan’s well respected master’s men’s mile. While I enjoyed the meet I came away with one overriding question. Why wasn’t there a featured race for master’s women?

I addressed that question to meet director Craig Rice a few months later and he replied that he’d love to see a high level race for master’s women. He just needed someone to champion it. He then looked straight at me in a meaningful manner. His message was clear. After a moment of contemplation, I replied, “ok Craig I’ll do it.”

I decided to have a 3000 meter race. It was long enough to interest distance runners but short enough that most milers could move up to it. I got my running Club Team Red Lizard to come in as a title sponsor. But who the heck was I going to get to run the thing?

I was actually in a little over my head. I had been a race director before, but I had never tried to attract a national caliber field. I had neither the experience nor the contacts that I needed to do the job. I put notices in master’s track and online but I knew I needed more than that. Fortunately, Dave Clingan gave me a very good piece of advice. He said get one runner and others will follow.

But who would that one runner be? My choice might not have seemed obvious for someone living in Oregon. I decided to go after a runner from Texas. I’m sure that Carmen Troncoso needs no introduction to readers of this website. I had seen her name in meet results in Oregon over a period of several years. It seemed like she came to the state almost every year. I hoped that I could talk her into coming to my race with the goal of building a race around her presence. And amazingly enough, she said yes. It turned out that she has friends in Oregon and could use the trip as an excuse to visit them.

With Carmen on board, I could go after other runners. I had met Christine Olen in Spokane at Club Nationals and she relished the idea of racing Carmen over 3000 meters. Trina Painter, Tania Fischer and Kirsten Leetch followed suit. I also managed to get some Northwest standouts to enter the race too. In the end I got a better field than I could have imagined possible.

Race night conditions were near perfect. The sky was overcast and temperatures hovered around 70 degrees. Winds were light and almost unnoticeable. A local runner or two complained that humidity was high by Portland standards but Carmen would have laughed at them.

At the gun, Tania took the lead and pushed the pace for the first 1600 meters. Trina, Carmen and Kirsten followed right behind while Christine stayed within striking distance. Carmen’s pace was ahead of American record pace for 50-54 women. Trina made her move just past 4 laps and by 2K she had open a gap on the rest of the field. Carmen held on as best she could while Tania and Kirsten fell back.

With 600 go Christine started her move. I have seen her closing speed before. Her kick is a thing of beauty to behold. She quickly moved from 5^th to 3^rd and then to 2^nd and was gaining on Trina at the end. However, Trina had more than enough of a gap to win comfortably in 9:56. Christine finished strongly in 10:03 and Carmen’s 10:10 easily surpassed Kathy Martin’s AR.

Further back in the pack, Jeannie Groesz and Candy Puterbaugh both ran times that gave them age grades of more than 90. I also ran my highest age grade in years at 85. Only 2 women in the race age graded lower than I did and only 3 finished behind me. Afterwards almost all of the women agreed that it had been a magical night for racing.

Flash forward to 2010. Most of the women are eager to return and I’m now working on getting some new people to the race. Sabra Harvey would like to have the chance to pick up the 60-64 AR and I’m working on two or three other big names.

For those who might be interested here are the details. The Portland Track Festival will be held Friday night June 11^th and all day Saturday June 12th. Friday night will feature some high level distance races for open women and men. Last year Rene Bativier-Baillie won the women’s 5000 and Sally Meyerhoff took the 10,000 meter race. Youth races will dominate the day section on Saturday. Saturday evening will feature middle distance races for youth, open and master’s runners. The 3000 for “old ladies” will be among the featured events on Saturday night.

The master’s women’s 3000 will feature a modest amount of prize money with $200, $100 and $50 going to the first three women across the line. There will also be $100 for the highest age graded performance.

For more information contact Joanna Harper at jmharps57@gmail.com.

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January 24, 2010

Peter Taylor’s Take on Hartshorne

Filed under: Running News — Tags: Aeron Arlin-Genet, Bernadine Pritchett, Cheryl Bellaire, Christine Olen, Hartshorne Mile, Karen Steen, Peter Taylor — Carmel Papworth-Barnum @ 9:44 pm

I asked mate and race announcer extraordinaire Peter Taylor for his thoughts on the Hartshorne Mile…

Numerous women made a splash at this year’s Hartshorne Memorial Masters Miles, and here are my notes on a few:

Aeron Arlin-Genet – Taller than I had expected (she is 5’ 9”), Aeron looked like a current member of a college women’s 4 x 800 relay quartet. Her form is impeccable, and she won the 40+ elite race convincingly. Aeron commented later that it was “so fun to be a part of this.” With very little experience running in masters events, Aeron said that this event was totally different from what she is used to (which is running against college and open runners).

Cheryl Bellaire – “I hate the mile” is what Cheryl said to a local reporter, and she said that to me as well. I believe that Cheryl would like a shorter race. As the leader, Julie Hayden, crossed the line with one lap to go in the W50+ elite event, Cheryl was about 30 meters behind (assistant director Rick Hoebeke said it was at least 30 meters after looking at the videotape). Somehow, even though the deficit looked insurmountable, Cheryl dug down deep and ran down Julie by 2.33 seconds. She later said that the whole last lap was “pretty much a blur.” After crossing the finish line she literally took a dive and stayed down for perhaps two minutes or so (she was not hurt).

Christine Olen – Christine had the best reason for making the long trip (Chris traveled all the way from Idaho) ─ she had explained to someone (presumably in Idaho) that she had gotten an invitation: “I have to go.” Chris took the bronze in the elite 40+ (she ran 5:11.40).

Bernadine Pritchett – Bernadine won four unofficial awards (I was the only voter): (1) Traveled the farthest, as she flew from London, England, to Newark, New Jersey, then took a flight to Ithaca. (2) Best dancer (showed this at the banquet). (3) Prettiest dress. (4) Best accent (as noted, she is from London). Bernadine ran 5:13.82.

Karen Steen – Karen lives in Olympia, Washington, and thus qualifies as another long-distance traveler. Karen said that it was “awesome to toe the line in this field. Very impressive.” Karen had the best time of women aged 45+ (5:15.92). Because the track (Cornell University) is flat, it is not particularly conducive to fast times.

Other women in the meet no doubt had stories, and maybe they will be heard elsewhere.
Peter Taylor

Thanks Peter, I’m sure your wonderful race calling added to the exciting atmosphere of the Hartshorne Mile!

Race Announcer, Peter Taylor

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